Dev Blog: Events
By Stormshade @ September 27, 2012 at 11:00am
One of the challenges faced in MMO Development today is finding new ways to spice up the journey a character takes from the time they first create their character, to the time they reach maximum level, and begin work on “end game” content.
We really wanted to do something which would break up the normal progression path of an MMO, and eventually decided that offering special events at specific times for players to participate in, on top of their normal adventuring activities, could do a lot to alleviate that feeling of always doing the “same thing”.
To that end, we offer several different types of events:
Instanced Events
Instanced Events are queued, instanced content which are only available for a short amount of time. Players can sign up for these events from anywhere within the zone the events are in, and will be teamed up with a group of 4 other players to attempt to conquer the challenge set before them. You may find yourself fighting off hordes of orcs attempting to claim control of a special location in the zone, in a “horde mode” type event. Or, you may find yourself storming the stronghold of a bandit lord. Regardless of what challenge you face, it’s a short break from “the usual” questing in MMOs, and when you’re done, you’ll earn some great loot, and then travel right back to where you were when you entered the event.
Contests
While instanced events are nice, and allow us to change things up in ways we couldn’t necessarily do without an instance, we wanted something that you could do along the normal progression path without needing to load into an instance. Contests allow us to introduce a competitive element to an adventure zone for a short time. Players can choose to participate in the event as it’s happening at a multitude of levels. You can choose to only participate should you happen across an objective, or actively compete throughout the duration of the event. Regardless, you’ll be rewarded according to your participation level, and rank at the end of the contest.
You may find yourself hunting down a pack of Spirit Wolves, subduing bandit spies, or even searching for lost relics in a contest event.
Rewards
Rewards for completing these events are varied and powerful, from special currency which can be used to purchase new gear for your class, to temporary buffs and bonuses which will assist you in your adventures throughout the City of Neverwinter. Some events even feature special, unique enemies which can drop cool and unusual looking weapons and armor pieces. Of course, there is always the prestige of seeing your name at the top of an event’s leaderboard as well.
Finding Events
Having fun and exciting things to do in Neverwinter is only a part of the puzzle. Players also should be able to easily find out what’s happening. To help with that, we’ve made sure that there are several ways you can check to see what events are happening at any given time.
To start, any upcoming events which will be happening in the zone you are currently in can be found in a list attached to your mini-map. These banners also allow you to queue for instanced events, on top of serving as reminders that an event is due to happen soon.
You’ll also be able to find all upcoming events, and when they’ll be running, listed on an in-game calendar. The calendar will be easily accessible on Neverwinter’s in-game landing page, and will let you know the schedule of events not only for the day, but also for the week to come!
We’ve only talked about two of several different planned event types for Neverwinter’s release, and we’ll be able to introduce more events after the game launches, with the goal of always providing you with something new and exciting to do while you’re playing Neverwinter.
Please make sure to let us know what you think of Neverwinter’s Events system in the forums, and of course, make sure to let us know what kind of events you’d like to see in Neverwinter as well!
skp @ Nov 21st, 2012 2:39AM
the games sounds great.. having a little trouble obtaining beta key
marenor @ Oct 14th, 2012 4:20PM
The events seem like a wonderful idea and should provide the players a break from questing and enrich the experience of the game. Having played several mmorpg's in the past and eventually withdrew for the reasons mentioned for developing events, I am excited to see developer's responding with new and unique content. I am thoroughly excited to see the game.
zikean @ Oct 6th, 2012 2:38AM
NWN 1 for the pc was one of the greatest things ever and i cant wait to play this!
arnica2 @ Oct 5th, 2012 3:07AM
This game looks awesome I just came across it today, look forward to playing it :) You guys would like Raiderz, open beta on October 24. I like it better than WoW which is boring. Raiderz has exceptionally good looking characters and tons of customising, great combat visuals
rdevil2 @ Oct 2nd, 2012 11:32PM
Yeah Come on D and D programmers let us Play the Game lol , btw some of the Characters look like the ones from D and D Online game lol , i hope we dont have to pay for extra Characters we make like on that one lol.
darkhawk @ Oct 2nd, 2012 7:25PM
for the love of the gods; LET ME PLAY THIS GAME!! alright, i'm done.. just.. had to get that out.
paladineca @ Oct 1st, 2012 10:41PM
Very Exciting!
mazaat @ Oct 1st, 2012 9:01PM
They have a similar system in GuildWar 2 and it'a my favorite part of game!!! Never knowing what's next = awesome!!
cvoda @ Sep 30th, 2012 5:38AM
sound alot like CO's Allert system is going to make its way into NW whit new names and wraps ;) , not a bad thing tho
forktounge179 @ Sep 30th, 2012 12:22AM
that be awesome how about a charcter background award for those who provide a background that is above normal anyone who makes a history for their charcters feels more attached to the charcter thus attached to the game.
talsic @ Sep 29th, 2012 12:55PM
This sounds awesome. Might be a great idea to have player DMs also run some of these in an interactive style.
ryvvik @ Sep 28th, 2012 4:03PM
thanks for the Update SS, sounds Uber
seu1 @ Sep 28th, 2012 3:29PM
Already looks like we are off to a great start, keep it up guys. You'e a good thing here, don;t let it fall into the typical mmo doom and death that plagues most other offerings nowadays.
pherephatta @ Sep 28th, 2012 2:50PM
This sounds awesome. Woohoo for fighting hordes!
angelxeye @ Sep 28th, 2012 2:00PM
Looks like ur using the best of PWE to perfect nvw- - - -> cant wait!
valistarius @ Sep 28th, 2012 9:29AM
Now this sounds very exiting! Seems like there's some inspiration coming from Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, but that it definately not a bad thing. That was one of the very few MMOs actually worth spending time on. Something I would love to see added are PvP arena events where 8 players are pitched against each others 4 vs. 4. Something like that never gets old and it would meet the PvP demands of the playerbase.
rustplayer @ Sep 28th, 2012 4:33AM
Niiice. NWO will be an MMO of the new generation, apparently. *looks to his STO and CO lifetime memberships* *whistles a joyful song*
plamgar @ Sep 27th, 2012 11:50PM
Stoping hordes of waves of enemies ? YES ! YES ! YES !
paladinspirit @ Sep 27th, 2012 9:19PM
sounds great,
illuminarii @ Sep 27th, 2012 6:52PM
I love the idea of events and contests within MMO's. I hope it is something that stays strong and doesn't fade out over time. For example, Neverwinter Nights for AOL would probably do a community based event once every week to two weeks with GM's whereas LOTRO started out that way at the beginning and then progressed to just doing it once every year or instead of creating new content for their events, using "festivals" with the same content during different seasons that seemed like it just added to the end-game grind. I am hoping that these contests and events happen on a regular basis.
jadescimitar @ Sep 27th, 2012 6:22PM
Very cool!
deathtr0ll @ Sep 27th, 2012 5:43PM
OMG Just Wanna Play So Badly would give anything to Know how to Apply for the Redem Key
hughwmallalieu @ Sep 27th, 2012 3:30PM
Sounds great, lets go...
darkstarkirian @ Sep 27th, 2012 3:11PM
"instanced content which are only available for a short amount of time." "Rewards for completing these events are varied and powerful, from special currency" That right there sounds less like CO's "Alerts" and more like STO's "The Vault" event that was well recieved at the beginning, but now very deserted due to the frustartion from the time-gated content/special currency bit.
stormdrag0n @ Sep 27th, 2012 1:35PM
Very excited about this sounds very similar to CO alert system which I love.
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